Relative parliamentary newbie Leong Mun Wai got a sharp reminder this week that there are limits to what one can say in Parliament, especially if one makes the mistake of repeating the same remarks outside the House.
Mr Leong, a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament since July 2020, had to apologise on Tuesday evening for a Facebook post and social media comments accusing the Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin of not letting him speak in Parliament.
In a Facebook post on Monday, he wrote that he was “deprived of the opportunity to respond to Tan See Leng’s (TSL) ‘red herring’ statement made last Friday because the Speaker did not allow me to speak using the cut-off time as an excuse”.
He added that the “Government tries its level best to deflect this (Singaporeans losing jobs to foreigners) gnawing existential issue all this while. THIS is the real issue, not my questioning – so the red herring is the Minister’s, not mine”.
Mr Leong, who represents the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), said that the Speaker of Parliament did not give him the chance to make clarifications and called the state of affairs “completely ridiculous“.
He was given until the close of Parliament on Tuesday to unreservedly apologise for his actions on Mar 7 and to withdraw his comments and delete the offending posts.
In Parliament on Tuesday (Mar 8), Mr Leong said: “It was not my intent to impugn the Speaker or the parliamentary processes but in my social media post I was trying to highlight that some amount of discretion and flexibility with the standing orders will go a long way in enhancing our discussion in this House”.
He apologised, saying: “But today, I would like to sincerely and unreservedly apologise to the Speaker and this House for my Facebook comments of 12.52 pm and 12.53 pm on Mar 7, 2022, and the video I posted at 6.55 pm on Mar 7, 2022, and the statements therein which impugn the Speaker and the processes of the Parliament.”
Mr Leong added that he took the post down at 5.30 pm on Tuesday, withdrew what he had said there, and undertook “not to repeat such words”.
“I acknowledge that I did not set out all the facts in my post and thus gave a misleading impression,” he said.
Deputy Leader of the House Zaqy Mohamad said: “We’re looking at more than 50 hours of debate. So I don’t think anyone can reasonably say that the Budget was not extensively debated. There are also avenues for issues to be raised in subsequent sittings”.
He accepted Mr Leong’s apology. /TISG